Making it Happen

 My last book - Quiz, Actually - did pretty well over Christmas 2023.

(It's a Chrimbo movie quiz book, and you will love it ;) https://lnkd.in/ex27w5kQ to grab one, though you could wait awhile and snag one on a decent deal in many other bricky-built bookshops.)

That said, as is sometimes the case I didn't have anything directly lined up to follow. Ideas came, and went, and remained uncommissioned.

So, rather than continuing to get frustrated and down in the dumps, I decided to return to my punk/DIY past and for the first time in a couple of decades to self-release something.

I'm no stranger to indie publishing and have worked with a few independent book publishers over the years; but this is right back to the grass roots, taking the spirit of my days making zines.

What I've always thought is that if you're going to do it yourself, there's no reason why you can't make it as bloody amazing as possible. Yes, I like the scratchy, punky, cruddy stuff - but punk isn't about doing things badly or half-arsed is it? It's the notion that anyone, anywhere, can do anything, without recourse to the mainstream fuddyduddys, without asking for permission.

Three chords and the truth, y'know?

So with that spirit intact I decided I'd break the log-jam by self-publishing a book of lyrics from a musical project I did with Paul Hammond, called Zombie Dub.

I designed it, proofed it, made it look boss, and printed it very cheaply, but to a high standard, with Mixam. I made it A6, pocket-sized, with a download code to get hold of the tracks from Bandcamp, and it looks fantastic.

Zombie Dubs is out on Friday, 13 September and if you want one shout me. It's not really gonna be in shops or online. But it is a great-looking book and I'm proud of the content too.

So far, so what. So this:

Zombie Dubs is my 13th book. I put it out because it deserved to be out rather than stuck on a computer and forgotten. But I also put it out to persuade the universe that this log-jam could ease. If I wasn't getting things commissioned, I was gonna bloody do something ace anyway.

When I decided to do it, I posted about it on social media - in part as a kick up my own arse to actually be accountable and get it done.

An hour later - literally - an offer came in to publish a poetry book. That's out in November next year.

A month ago I was asked to do another quiz book, out this Christmas. I'm working on it right now. That's going to be the 14th book. Not only that, I've just this morning signed a contract for a major music book which will be released in 2025.

If nothing's happening, folks, you gotta try and make it happen. The evidence is literally there in black and white (or will be, once I've written the bastard things)

Get out there and do it. Do it fucking awesomely, and awesome things can happen. Sitting waiting for things is a scam.

Believe in the power of Why Not.